The Totally NEW Team Corwin Thread

April 26th, 2010, 13:16

I think my paladin can help you will getting through the Sharn and other quests. I also think we need to make the Friday night quests be determined by who will show up. Usually you, CM, Joe, Azraelck and me show up for those sessions and we have all level 5+ characters. If T and DTE show up then we can play something else, but we will also be 7 people so a split into 2 groups is necessary.

I think one thing we can do is to post here on the forum when we want to play sessions and want help to finish them. Then we can check here and try to login at the same time and help. E. g. T is working when we play our Friday night sessions. If we know when she plays then we can show up and help her with quests she can't do alone. The same with you and others.

I'm frequently available to play, but I think sending a message via Skype is faster since while I'm often logged on here, I don't check in all the time after I finish my morning run. I just check in every couple of hours, but Skype is always open and messaages come straight through to my desktop. I also check whenever I log into DDO to see if anyone else is on and I keep using the Guild channel since that tells me if someone logs in while I'm playing.

Unfortunately Peter, my normal playing times are while you're sleeping and vice versa. I think I could finish most of the quests with a Paladin to help, but they're even difficult to hire!!

Using Skype is better than posting. We just have to remember that some of you appear to be offline on Skype even if online. I also check for others online when I login to DDO. Today I got the extra inventory page for my first cleric and paladin. My second paladin needs 14 more favour to get it. I think having 4 pages instead of 3 means we can play longer in each quest without having to go back to tavern to sell.

Do you want to do Sharn Syndicate after Shan To Kor? We can do it on hard and get double favour points. I unlocked the Drow character so I will look into making a Drow cleric. That can be interesting.

3 Barrel's problem is that it's huge. It can take awhile just to get to a quest area. I ran it with my Paladin as well.

I'm up for Sharn as well. Haven't ran much of it on my Cleric, my Paladin got stuck with trying to keep people alive on Bookbinder. They keep dying before I get to them.

I went THF simply to save build points and feats. You'll pull ahead on damage later, assuming you get decent equipment.

For effective CC, I want Heighten. I also want Toughness to help compensate for the 12 Con. I want Extend for the buffs, and Quicken for emergency healing.

To get Warchanter, I have to have Power Attack and Weapon Focus: whatever. That leaves me all of one feat to spare (probably Improved Critical is what I'll take). While I could take TWF, it would cause me to not get Warchanter until level 12.

I would also not get the full benefit of the TWF tree, since I don't think Bard's get the BAB to get all three feats. And finally even dualing rapiers or other light weapons, I'd take a hit to attack bonus. I like missing on a 1 only. And last but not least, I like quarterstaffs, as I train with them in real life. So I'll always have a spot for them, even if they're not as effective as other options.

I want all the feats. However, lately I've been taking Diehard to make sure I stabalise while bleeding. I REALLY wanted extend for my Wiz, but I got sick of running from -1 to -10 and dieing in a dungeon while nowhere near a shrine!!

I made another character, Rolf Peter Manstein. He's a level 4 cleric and will probably be level 5 before the weekend. He's different from my other cleric, Peter Policus. He's more min/max and will be better with offensive spells later (several feats and enhancements for divine penetration). Charisma is low so he won't use turn undead a lot. I only choose divine vitality to give other spellcasters some spellpoints. Then I get some use for my turn undead ability.

He started at 16-8-14-8-18-8. So wisdom is maxed out and he will get +5 wisdom from ability increases, +2 from tome and the rest from equipment.

My paladin will complete Shan-To-Kor. Then I guess my cleric will do low level playing while my other 3 can do the more mid level playing. One good thing about making extra PC's is that they inherit good items from the others. So my cleric started with +3 full plate, +2 strength from bracers of ogre power etc. Did all level 2 quests in the harbor and got about 10k XP. Will do the level 3 quests in southern harbor before going to the marketplace. Hope to be level 5 by then. Leveling is faster with the XP potions.

I find WW is the best Harbor quest series for stuff and XP. I'd still like to see you try something other than a Paladin or Cleric, where's your sense of adventure!! I plan to log on to DDO shortly, while you're likely off to bed.

So are we running two Clerics now, or will you be taking full time healing duties up again? I have my Monk at level 5, so I can run her instead, giving us another fighter. Or I can bring in a Bard or Wizard, whatever.

If Phurry and CM's Fighter are in after we clear StK, Ill probably bring my Bard, just for something different. Two Clerics might be overkill as far as healing and casting goes.

Irestone Inlet actually gives some good stuff too, but it's rough to run solo. I've ran it a few times. I also like to wander Cerulean Hills and get the explorer. With luck you can get 3-4k without touching the quests. Slayer is actually pretty low as well, so it's possible to complete with a few runs, unlike most of them.

I can see a LG Favored Soul in Peter's future. Does that count as variety Corwin?

We're starting to get too many combinations, it seems, with everyone having multiple characters. We might be a little short on rogue skills overall, but we've got most everything else covered in spades. Seems to come down to a little planning ahead of game time so everyone gets to play and there's not too much overlap, me thinks.

— Sorry. No pearls of wisdom in this oyster.
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Yep, we do have at least 3 people with rogues, a couple of wizzies, one sorc, 2 bards, 3 Pallies and a few assorted fighters to go along with several clerics. We should be able to mix and match to suit whoever turns up. Every group needs one healer and one rogue, though for a large group, 2 healers are better. After that, as long as there's at least one fighter and one caster, the group will have decent balance. I'm trying to keep all my chars at about the same level so I can plug n play whatever is needed at any time.

I'm going to focus on my rogue in the next few days just because she's interesting to play and I like the secrets she can uncover. I might make it to level 3 this week but will just take it day by day.

I only have my fighter and rogue to play and my fighter is kind of stymied at the moment. Not enough quests to play that I am high enough for and the ones I DO have are too tough for solo play so that's why I've been playing my rogue more.

Will keep my eyes open for anyone playing and I can post here when I decide to in case anyone is reading.

Actually, it's good that we have a good combination of characters. Prevents anyone from being forced into a role, or pushed into roles where they're less comfortable; at the same time as ensuring that we can fill gaps as needed and have different experiences with the same content.

With Peter pulling in with a new Cleric, I can feel free to change characters whenever we're not in the middle of a series from time to time. I like having the ability to heal, but I've never been one comfortable with the role of primary healer. I can do it, when I remember that I can't rush in and bash things in quite as well, and get knocked on my rear. That doesn't mean I'm comfortable with the role.

As I've mentioned before, Druids are my preferred DnD Class. I'd keep a few healing spells memorized for emergencies, but my main focus was damage spells and crowd control. Clerics could handle main healing, I was there to kill!

We had an interesting combination tonight. Cleric, Bard, and Rogue. The only thing is that I'm kinda unhappy with how Charm is working out. Even with 19cha, it seems to be failing far too much. Hypnotize remains the best spell I have. Going to swap it out for something else.

Your Bard can also summon which is a great help if you're going solo. The more I play a rogue, the more I appreciate just how valuable they are in DDO. They certainly are essential in many of the Sharn quests.

T, I went into DDO, found your rogue and tried to say hello. I invited you into the Guild several times, etc, and you totally ignored me!!!! I wasted half an hour trying to get your attention.

I can play either a cleric or a paladin in the group and with 2 of each I can easily find one that will suit the needs. It doesn't matter who I play so it means I can select my character when we see who else will show up and with what. If we need a healer then I play the cleric, but if someone else heals then I can play the paladin. For hard quests we can use 2 healers and then we have a Favored Soul (Azraelck) and my cleric.

I enjoy being the main healer and I automatically look at the red bars of people so I can heal injuries. I also look at the blue bar so I can give some extra spellpoints. Afflictions is also something I look at. Unfortunately it happens quite often that my healing attempts fail because target is out of range or blocked sight. So I think people who likes to be healed should make sure they're not so far away from the cleric. I try to stand behind the main fighter and support him/her against the main monsters. So those of you who fight wandering in other directions might regret that soon.

For variation I like to be a melee character and then I play paladins. One reason is that I like the boosts to the character, especially the self healing. That means I have emergency heals of people who get incapacitated. That has saved the group many times. So getting many lay on hands is high priority. It also makes it easier to be a cleric because the paladin can do some healing once the cleric mana drops low.

I think the group should always have the following components:
* Rogue (or a bard in not trap heavy dungeons)
* Melee (fighter, monk or paladin)
* Healer (cleric or favored soul)
* Spellcaster (wizard or sorcerer)

Extra character could be anyone, but an extra melee character would be good to support the tank, e. g. a ranger. With both healer and spellcaster we will have a lot of buffs. With a bard we will bathe in buffs. The best use for a rogue is that he/she will find and disable most traps so we won't lose HP's crossing them. Finding secret doors and extra chests will help too. Later the rogue will become so strong so he/she can do backstabbing. At low levels I guess the rogue will fight with ranged weapons.

The sixth character can be anyone, but a second spellcaster is always very nice. Spellcasters are good as long as we have enough melee characters to protect them.

The point is that all characters are useful in DDO and the best groups have a variety of them.

I have the feeling the main role of our characters seems to be:
Corwin: Spellcaster
Joe: Rogue
CM: Fighter
Azraelck: Melee (paladin or monk)
Me: Cleric

With this setup we have exactly the group I described above. It seems T will use her rogue in the group and that means we can cover that role with more people and that's good.

I agree with Azraelcks that we should play characters we're comfortable with and by looking at the list of guild characters I think we have enough variety so we don't have to force e. g. me to play a rogue. I tried it once in NWN and it was not a fun time for any of us. My rogue forgot he wasn't a paladin so he got hit often in melee battles he initiated. He also forgot he wasn't a cleric who could heal. So he was hurt so often he had to shout for the cleric or drink potions. He retired when he realized he was addicted to healing potions. His friends told him to rely upon stealth and not join the battles except for backstabs, but he never listened.

Rogues and Wizards (with Knock) can open locked doors which unfortunately, a Bard can't do. While I find them interesting to play, they are clearly the least necessary. They can do several things fairly well, but nothing as well as a specialist. They are the jacks and never the master!!